The Orchid Affair

The Orchid Affair
By Lauren Willig
Dutton, 2011. 405 pgs. Historical Fiction

The Pink Carnation has, once again, sent an agent abroad to assist in her attempts to undermine the new French government. Laura Grey, a governess with sixteen years of experience, fears that her opportunity for adventure and excitement is long gone. She is tired of raising the spoiled children of the English Aristocracy and leaps at the opportunity to join the League of the Pink Carnation. Following intensive but brief espionage training, Laura is sent to her native home of Paris to take the charge of two motherless children and spy on their father, a highly placed official in Fouche’s ministry of police.

This is the seventh installment in Willig’s Pink Carnation series. Each historical adventure is told interspersed with a modern story which follows a graduate student discovering pieces of lost history surrounding English spies and French villains. The modern story fell a bit flat after the first couple of books, but the historical adventures continue to entertain. The endings may be predictable, but that doesn’t detract from the enjoyment readers can experience. There are spies, romance, and adventure. What more could you ask for in a quick little guilty pleasure?

CZ